Ireland, in Today's News 07.22.09

Ireland. From the news wire today: "A report of the Catholic Church cover-up of child abuse in Dublin details 'horrific acts of depravity' for decades, Ireland's justice minister said Tuesday. Another investigation two months ago found scores of church-run schools, orphanages and reformatories harbored child abusers in religious orders from the 30s to the 90s."

The Church in Ireland and the Vatican chose to not fight this attack on the Church. The aim of the reports is to destroy the influence built up through centuries of Catholic practice in Ireland. 

When the first report was published, the Church leaders decided to take the "American" approach of not fighting, expressing remorse, and handing over gobs of money. (See previous blogs on this subject here.) Presumably they thought that would settle things. As usual their judgement was atrocious.

Not fighting only encourages the attackers. Their language has now escalated to a charge of "horrific acts of depravity." And this won't be the end of it. Before long the charges will escalate even more.

The accommodationist policy of the Church leaders will lead to the certain destruction of any meaningful Catholic influence on Irish society and individuals. And it means that millions and millions of money that was contributed by hard-working Irish faithful will now be turned over to enemies of the Church.

Every shyster who can practice law in Ireland will soon be there to make their fortune via legal suits against the Church.

If the Church leaders had any backbone they would tell the truth that this is a conscious pre-meditated attack on the Church, and that it will be met with determined counter action. To the extent that there were abuses in the Church, the Church will deal with them in no uncertain terms.

"Pope Visibly Upset over Abuse" in Ireland, in Today's News 06.08.09

"Pope Visibly Upset."  The Vatican response to the government-initiated report on abuse in Catholic institutions in Ireland is not off to a propitious start.

From the Irish Times: "Pope Benedict was 'visibly upset' when he heard details contained in the Ryan report on abuse in State institutions run by religious orders, Archbishop of Dublin Diamuld Martin said today."

"In a statement to journalists after today's meeting, Cardinal Brady said the Pope had 'listened very carefully, very attentively, very sympatheticly to what we had to say and he said in reply that this was a time for deep examination of life here in Ireland in the Church.'"

"He said the Pope urged them to establish the truth of what has happened, ensure that justice is done for all, put in place measures that will prevent these abuses happening again with a view to healing the survivors."

See previous commentary on this situation here.

Here we have a carefully planned, conscious assault on the authority of the Church in Ireland. The report itself is ambiguous, short on details, highly provocative, and opens the door for anyone wanting to make a buck to sue the Church.

The preliminary Vatican response described above indicates that the Vatican and the Irish Church officials will follow the pattern of the American response to similar charges, which was so successful (sarcasm) in the United States. In short, this response assumes the charges are legitimate, expresses deep sorrow, launches all manner of 'healing' procedures, sets up ineffective measures to prevent recurrence, and above all, forks over the money.

The alternative is to fight. It is not an easy fight to conduct. The opposition has all the emotional cards in their hand. But to not fight means the death of the influence of the Church in Ireland.  

The Vatican officials seem oblivious to the concerted efforts to undermine the Church authority. There are many very powerful individuals, groups, and institutions in the world who are anti-Christian, and who are constantly looking for ways to destroy the Church's influence on humanity. Their efforts never stop.  

The Vatican, sooner or later, is going to have to meet these challenges. That is, if it wants to survive. The Irish report is cleverly written and puts the Church on the defensive, but the Church leaders have to fight back somewhere.  The Church will be lost in Ireland if the current accommodationist approach is followed.